Four For Two

With the first promotion ticket almost booked for Xerez, we can safely say that the race to the Primera Division will now see just four teams battling for two spots. The efforts of Real Sociedad and Salamanca are probably going to go by the wayside. It now boils down to Hercules, Tenerife, Zaragoza and Rayo Vallecano who are separated by just four points. There are five weeks left in the season and there is no reason to think that any of the four will be out of contention by that last Sunday.

Tenerife lost to Hercules over the weekend making it their first defeat in 18'jornadas', a truly astounding statistic. Despite their 'puntuando' ways, their pormotion is not secure.

Rayo got a boost from the previously mentioned Teresa Rivero and ripped off two straight wins since the BBQ held at the presidenta's home. Apparently all they needed was a little home cookin.

Hercules to me look the most solid of the bunch and I think they will secure promotion. Yes they have their setbacks and occasional defeats, but from a consistency standpoint, they have been the most solid.

Zaragoza has their hands full this weekend against an Alicante team that has completely defied the odds and are now just 6 points away from safety. Back around the Christmas holiday, people, including myself, were making a mockery of their coaching carousel. Evidently Carlos Granero ended up being the right guy and I'm gonna pick an Alicante upset over Zaragoza this weekend which may very well leave the Aragoneses out of the promotion spots for the rest of the season.

Alicante also faces off against Hercules and could hurt their hopes. A week later they could seal Alaves' fate into releghation to the Segunda B. The Alaves fans showed their displeasure with their team's recent play by spraypainting the team's painting ground. Classy! Sad to see the former UEFA Cup finalists have fallen.

In any event, a meeting with already relegated Sevilla Atletico in the last week of the season just may push Alicante to safety. It'll be worth watching.

Jornada 37 - Resultados

Rayo - Cordoba 5-0
R. Sociedad - Albacete 1-0
Zaragoza - Celta 3-0
Hércules - Tenerife 3-1
Alavés - Eibar 1-1
Las Palmas - Alicante 0-1
Levante - Salamanca 1-2
Elche - Girona 2-1
Murcia - Huesca 0-0
Xerez - Castellon 1-0
Sevilla At - Gimnastic 1-3

Clasificacion

1. Xerez - 75
2. Tenerife - 69
3. Zaragoza - 68
4. Hércules - 67
5. Rayo - 65
6. R. Sociedad - 60
7. Salamanca - 59
8. Levante - 56
9. Castellón - 53
10. Gimnástic - 51
11. Elche - 50
12. Huesca - 46
13. Las Palmas - 44
14. Albacete - 44
15. Murcia - 44
16. Girona - 42
17. Celta - 41
18. Córdoba - 41
19. Alavés - 37
20. Alicante - 34
21. Eibar - 30
22. Sevilla At - 16

Mama Knows Best

Saturday afternoon features one of those juicy affairs where two teams face off against each other and the only worthwhile result is three points. In this case, Rayo Vallecano will make the quick bus trip out of the capital city and over to Salamanca to play in what is essentially an elimination game for any chance of reaching the promotion zone to La Primera.

The last two weeks have been very unkind to Rayo as they have lost rather horridly to Segunda B bound Alicante and 13th Albacete, 2-0 and 0-3. In an effort to cheer up the squad, Rayo President Maria Teresa Rivero, had the team over for dinner not to chastise them, but to cheer them up, give 'em a pat on the back and assure that she is 100% behind them.

As the mother of 13 children and 36 grandchildren, the woman knows a thing or two about trying to get the best out of youngster. I'm not sure if the same applies to her futbol children, but nevertheless, I applaud her efforts. I just wonder that if Rayo drops this weekend's affair in Salamanca, will she give them a spanking at the next home match in front of the whole crowd at the modestly named Estadio Teresa Rivero?

At the very least Rivero is now able to amply follow a futbol match. She admitted back in 1994 when she became president of Rayo after her husband died that she had only seen one futbol match in her entire life and that was in Murcia when she was a little girl... and she didn't even know which teams were playing (Real Murcia had to have been one of them, right?!?!). Not exactly the kind of business/futbol experience that men like Joan Laporta or Florentino Perez have, but it still merits respect that a woman in a machismo country like Spain has been the President of a futbol club for 15 years. Rivero should also be credited for trying to forward women's rights within the futbol world which included publishing a book on the topic.

Rivero has come a long way since 1994 when she was found bored to tears and actually asleep in the 'palco' of Rayo's stadium. Now universally respected by her club presidential colleagues, Rivero is carving a special niche in Spanish futbol and we're lucky that we get to see it in El Infierno.


One other note from El Infierno - Cheers to Sevilla Atletico for beating Girona at home last weekend! Maybe once the relegation was made official, they could kick back and play relaxed futbol. Evidently that worked. Too bad only 100 people were in attendance in the stadium to see it.

Resultados - Jornada 35

Rayo - Albacete 0-3
R. Sociedad - Celta 2-2
Zaragoza - Tenerife 1-1
Hércules - Gimnastic 2-2
Alavés - Castellon 0-1
Las Palmas - Huesca 1-1
Levante - Alicante 2-0
Elche - Xerez 0-1
Murcia - Eibar 2-0
Córdoba - Salamanca 0-2
Sevilla At - Girona 2-1


Clasificacion

1. Xerez - 69
2. Tenerife - 66
3. Zaragoza - 62
4. Hércules - 61
5. Rayo - 59
6. Salamanca - 56
7. R. Sociedad - 54
8. Levante - 53
9. Castellón - 50
10. Gimnástic - 47
11. Elche - 46
12. Huesca - 45
13. Albacete - 44
14. Murcia - 43
15. Girona - 42
16. Las Palmas - 41
17. Celta - 41
18. Córdoba - 40
19. Alavés - 35
20. Alicante - 31
21. Eibar - 29
22. Sevilla At - 16